Wednesday, August 23, 2006

Yingge tea shop


I liked this Yingge ceramic shop a lot. Here, the artists plunge deep in China's past to recreate beautiful, old looking, simple objects for our tea pleasure. With such accessories, you don't just smell the delicate fragrances of tea. With your senses you fly further than the fields of flowers and orchards, further than the forests of Yunnan and the mountains of Formosa. It's your whole soul that travels through time and space. It is looking for its old self and finds it in a small Chinese town some 200 years ago. Which town? I don't know. It's time for another cup of tea...

6 comments:

Groumpf said...

It's really beautiful and, before reading, I though this was taken in a museum.

One thing I'd never seen are the trays set on the two table. Are they made of stone like they seem ?
It reminds me a bit of San-Yi "tea mountains", but with a colder look (and certainly a freezing touch).

By the way, I just love the clay kettle and its stand. How is it used ? With wood and coal like antique tetsubin ? (I don't know whether clay would stand such a violent treatment)

TeaMasters said...

You're correct: the trays are carved from black stones, but they are not too hard and cold.
These are new items in Yingge. I saw them in several shops. There is also a hole to let the water go away. But it's not only heay, it's also quite expensive. The big one on the top, for instance, costs 18,000 NTD (450 euros) in that shop.

The clay kettle can be heated on coal or wood fire. No problem. That's also how it was done in the past. Clay was more readily available than iron.

Groumpf said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Anonymous said...

beautifull picture.
quand je vois ce genre de photo, mélange de douceur, de beauté, de vieux... je ne résiste pas. Il me faut un Pu-ehr.

Merci pour l'incitation!

Anonymous said...

That's also how I see tea drinking : a kind of travel. And this ware, used with Pu erh, is the perfect pair of wings to fly tru time…

Anonymous said...

Rien à rajouter : SUPERBE !!!